KUTA

Two motorbike snatch-and-grab thieves who robbed a Russian citizen in Kuta were badly bashed when they were caught by a mob of local men, before police could intervene.

Mohammad Johan Hermansyah, 32, and David Diliantara, 26, attacked 30-year-old Stepanova Anastasya in the Tibubeneng area of North Kuta, snatching a bag containing cash and other items.

Local men who heard Anastasya’s calls for help managed to stop the thieves as they tried to escape and then began to beat them, according to North Kuta Police chief Nyoman Sukanada.

“Fortunately a police patrol was passing at the time,” Sukanada said. Although the police officers were able to drive off the mob and arrest the suspects, both received significant injuries. Hermansyah was unable to walk after the incident, Sukanada said.

According to Sukanada, both men had a string of previous convictions and appear to have met while serving time for robbery in Bali’s Kerobokan Prison.